World Congress of Rusyns VII, Presov Slovakia 2003

Resolution of the Delegates of the 7th World Congress of Rusyns, 7 June 2003, in Prešov

1. We accept the report of the President of the World Council of Rusyns Aleksander Zozuljak on his activities since the last, sixth, World Congress of Rusyns, in Prague in 2001.
2. We express dissatisfaction with the relocation the main editorial office of the national-ethnic broadcasts of Slovak Radio from Prešov to Košice. We understand the economic requirements, but part of the savings should be effectively utilized to raise the level and expand Rusyn programming, which is the most important thing for us. We also support the efforts of the radio employees, as well as all Rusyn and other social, cultural, official and legislative institutions in protesting the relocation of the editorial offices, which could have negative consequences for the cultural-national life of the Rusyns.
3. We welcome the fact that Fr. Petro Pavel Hal’ko, ČSVV, has been named the vicar of the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia for the Rusyns, and we recognize this as the first step towards the establishment of a bishopric for Rusyn believers in Slovakia.
4. Understanding the specific situation of Rusyns in Romania and bearing in mind decisions of previous Congresses, we accept the Rusyn Cultural Society of Romania as a regular member of the World Congress of Rusyns.
5. We value the decision of the Transcarpathian regional parliament on the recognition of the Rusyn nationality in Subcarpathia and urge the central government of Ukraine to hear the voice of the representatives of Subcarpathia and adopt this decision at a meeting of the High Rada of Ukraine.
6. We resolve that delegations to the World Congress of Rusyns from each state must include at least one representative of every Rusyn cultural-social organization registered in that state and operating in accordance with the Articles of the World Congress of Rusyns.
7. We call on the World Council of Rusyns to prepare and publish an anthology of Rusyn prose before the eighth World Congress of Rusyns.
8. We call on all members of the World Congress of Rusyns to regularly pay annual membership dues, which are USD 100 for regular members and USD 50 for associate members.
9. We call on the newly-elected World Council of Rusyns to focus their activities in the upcoming period on three priorities: scholarship, business and assistance to the World Forum of Rusyn Youth.
10. We call on the competent Church organs and institutions to accept the fact that Rusyns are Christians of the Eastern rite (Orthodox and Greek Catholic). At the same time, we ask that priests in Rusyn villages deliver their sermons in Rusyn and read the Epistles and Gospels in Rusyn, according to the wishes of Rusyn parishioners.
11. We support the opening of parochial schools in addition to the secular ones which use Old Church Slavonic and Rusyn as languages of instruction.
12. We call on the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Rusyn faithful to take part not only in the religious, but also in the cultural-national life of the Rusyns actively.
13. We turn to the regions where Rusyns live to take an active role in the Biennial of Rusyn Culture in Krynica and in the International Biennial of Rusyn Fine Arts at the site of the World Congress of Rusyns.
14. We call on all members of the World Congress of Rusyns to submit written information to the World Council of Rusyns at the end of each year about those cultural activities prepared for the next year.
15. We resolve that every member of the World Congress of Rusyns is to organize a children’s folklore festival in their country.
16. We resolve that the next, eighth, World Congress of Rusyns will be held in Krynica, in Poland.
17. We praise the establishment of the new World Council of Rusyns, composed of the following members: Andrij Kopcza (Poland), Paul Robert Magocsi (North America), Ahata Pilatova (Czech Republic), Anna Kuzmiakova (Slovakia), Mihajlo Almašij (Subcarpathia in Ukraine), Julijan Ramač (Vojvodina in Serbia and Montenegro), Gabriel Hattinher (Hungary) and George Fircak (Romania). At the same time, the members of the new World Council resolved at their first meeting that the president of the World Council of Rusyns is Andrij Kopcza and its secretary, Aleksander Zozuljak.